Carllrfnr 


CARL    SCHURZ 


ADDRESSES  IN  MEMORY 

OF 

CARL  SCHURZ 


CARNEGIE  HALL       NEW  YORK 

NOVEMBER  21 

1906 


NEW  YOUK/COM^J.T^pE,  Op,  THE 

CARL  SCHXJR2  MEMORIAL 


C 


MOHSE  STEPHENS 


CARL  SCHURZ  died  in  New  York  City  May  14, 
1906,  in  the  seventy-eighth  year  of  his  age0  On 
June  8,  a  meeting  of  citizens  of  New  York  was 
held  at  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  to  take  measures 
to  honor  his  memory.  A  committee  was  formed  to 
cooperate  with  similar  committees  in  other  parts  of  the 
country  in  establishing  a  permanent  public  memorial 
to  Mr.  Schurz,  and  to  hold  in  New  York  a  fitting 
memorial  meeting.  This  meeting  was  held  at  Carnegie 
Hall  on  the  evening  of  Wednesday,  November  21, 
1906,  the  Honorable  Joseph  H.  Choate,  Chairman  of 
the  New  York  Committee,  presiding. 

The  speakers  were  the  Honorable  Grover  Cleveland, 
former  President  of  the  United  States;  Dr.  Charles 
W.  Eliot,  President  of  Harvard  University;  Professor 
Eugene  Kuhnemann,  of  the  University  of  Breslau ; 
the  Honorable  Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy ;  Mr.  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  Editor  of  the 
Century  Magazine  ;  Professor  Hermann  A  Schumacher, 
of  the  University  of  Bonn ;  and  Dr.  Booker  T.  Wash 
ington,  of  Tuskegee  Institute. 

The  music  included  choruses  in  German,  sung  by 
the  Liederkranz  and  Arion  societies,  and  the  march 
from  Die  Gotterdammerung  and  the  prelude  to  Die 
Meistersinger,  by  the  New  York  Symphony  Orchestra, 
led  by  Frank  Damrosch. 

The  full  proceedings  are  printed  in  the  pages 
following : 


865890 


ADDRESS  OF  THE 
HONORABLE  JOSEPH   H.  CHOATE 

THIS  great  and  brilliant  company  has  assembled  for  no 
funereal  rites,  for  no  obituary  service.     We  are  here  to 
do  honor  to  the   memory  of  a  great  citizen,   to   exult 
in  his  exalted  virtues,  and  to  learn  the  lesson  of  patriotism  from 
his  long  and  honorable  life.      A  noble  friend  of  mine,  dying,  said 
that  his  life  seemed  like  the  flight  of  a  bird  through  a  church 
from  window  to  window,  and  at  best  it  is 

"  Short  as  the  watch  that  ends  the  night  before  the  rising  sun." 
And  our  sketches  of  CARL  SCHURZ  to-night  must  be  short  indeed 
if  we  would  do  justice  to  this  splendid  program,  and  enjoy  the 
music  which  he  loved  so  much  better  than  words,  however 
weighty. 

I  heard  Mr.  Lincoln  at  the  Cooper  Institute  in  1860  say: 
"Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith  let 
us  dare  to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it."  Search  all  the 
books  in  all  our  libraries,  and  you  can  find  no  better  statement 
of  Mr.  Schurz's  rule  of  life  than  this.  Truth,  right,  duty,  freedom 
were  the  four  corners  of  his  chart  of  life,  with  which  all  his 
speech  and  conduct  squared.  And  so  it  was  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end.  In  the  first  freshness  of  youth  he  left  the  university 
and  joined  the  Revolution  of  1848,  and  fought  to  break  oppres 
sion  and  maintain  constitutional  liberty.  In  that  marvelous 
achievement  of  daring  and  devotion  by  which  at  the  deadly  peril 
of  his  own  life  he  rescued  his  old  teacher  and  comrade  from  the 
fortress  in  which  he  had  been  condemned  for  life  to  pick  oakum 
for  the  Prussian  Government,  he  furnished  to  the  world  a  heroic 
romance,  worthy  to  be  immortalized  by  a  new  Schiller,  a  miracle 
long  since  celebrated,  and  always  to  be  celebrated  in  German 
poetry  and  song.  A  refugee  from  hopeless  tyranny,  he  came 
here  into  exile  and  made  America  his  home.  He  was  himself 

[7] 


the  choicest  exampJp  of  that  splendid  host  of  Germans  who  have 
enriched  and  strengthened  and  fertilized  our  native  stock,  to 
produce  that  composite  creatute,  the  latest  result  of  time,  the 
blending  of  all  the  Caucasian  races — the  New  American. 

With  intense  devotion  he  applied  himself  to  mastering  the 
English  language,  that  he  might  with  free  speech  utter  free 
thought  to  free  men  throughout  the  whole  land  of  his  adoption. 
The  year  before  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Schurz  I  had  heard  Kossuth 
himself,  who  in  a  few  months  had  learned  the  English  language 
in  an  Austrian  dungeon,  deliver  to  a  Harvard  audience  an  ad 
dress  in  our  own  tongue.  But  Mr.  Schurz  as  a  linguist  surpassed 
even  Kossuth,  for  he  soon  became  one  of  our  foremost  orators, 
perhaps  the  most  cogent  and  convincing  debater  of  his  time; 
and  if  his  hearers  shut  their  eyes  and  trusted  only  to  their  ears 
they  might  well  believe  that  he  had  never  spoken  any  language 
but  our  own. 

With  an  inherent  instinct  for  freedom,  he  was  at  one  with 
Lincoln,  that  "a  house  divided  against  itself  must  fall,  and  that 
this  government  could  not  permanently  endure  half  slave  and 
half  free,"  and  so  he  took  part  in  German  in  that  great  debate 
with  Douglas,  and  made  the  vast  hosts  of  his  countrymen  in  the 
West  familiar  with  the  vital  issue  in  that  irrepressible  conflict. 
In  the  convention  of  1860  that  nominated  Lincoln,  he  in 
sisted  successfully,  with  Curtis,  upon  incorporating  in  the  plat 
form  the  cardinal  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
When  the  war  broke  out,  and  it  became  manifest  that  the 
Gordian  knot  of  slavery  could  be  cut  only  by  the  sword,  he  re 
signed  the  lazy  post  of  Minister  to  Spain,  and  on  many  a  bloody 
field — at  Manassas,  Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg,  and  Chatta 
nooga — with  dauntless  skill  and  courage  he  fought  for  freedom 
here  as  he  had  fought  for  it  at  home. 

As  a  senator  I  think  he  made  the  noblest  record  of  his  noble 
life.  There  his  genius,  his  courage,  his  humanity,  and  his  pa 
triotism  had  full  play.  There  politics,  patronage,  the  chance  of 
re-election  were  nothing  to  him.  He  was  there  not  to  serve  his 
State  only,  but  the  whole  country,  in  the  true  spirit  of  Burke's 
letter  to  the  electors  of  Bristol.  With  exhaustless  energy  he 

[8] 


mastered  every  important  question,  and  led  in  a  great  debate, 
and  regarded  the  foundations  of  the  Constitution  as  of  vastly 
greater  importance  than  any  ephemeral  question  of  the  day,  how 
ever  burning.  He  always  stood  by  these  great  landmarks,  that 
the  executive  should  keep  within  its  constitutional  limits,  and 
not  invade  by  one  hair's  breadth  the  functions  of  the  legislature 
or  judiciary,  and  that  they /should  do  the  like  by  it,  and  above 
all  that  the  Federal  power  should  not  encroach  upon  the  State 
power,  nor  this  upon  that,  but  each  keep  within  its  own  limits, 
that  the  delicate  balance  of  our  dual  system,  which  has  justly 
excited  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  world,  might  not  be 
disturbed.  Oh,  for  such  a  senator  now!  What  would  not  this 
great  Empire  State  give  for  one  such  man — for  two  such  men, 
if  happily  they  could  be  found! 

As  a  Cabinet  Minister,  too,  his  record  is  a  noble  one.  Politics 
and  politicians  he  turned  "neck  and  heels  "out  of  his  depart 
ment,  and  made  tenure  of  office  there  depend  only  upon  merit 
and  fitness.  Frauds  and  plunderers  found  in  him  their  most 
dangerous  foe.  He  was  a  real  father  to  the  Indian  tribes  and 
fought  in  defence  of  our  vast  forest  domains  that  were  then 
already  falling  victims  to  robbers.  In  short,  it  is  sufficient  to 
say  of  him  that  his  administration  of  the  department  of  the 
Interior  is  only  equalled  by  that  of  his  distinguished  successor, 
Mr.  Hitchcock,  who  now  after  six  years  of  service  is  retiring, 
carrying  with  him  imperishable  laurels. 

Compelled  by  the  exigencies  of  our  political  system  to  abstain 
from  holding  public  office  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life, 
his  independence,  his  courage,  his  spotless  character,  and  bound 
less  knowledge  of  affairs  have  been  of  vast  service  to  his  country. 
Taking  up  the  reins  of  the  Civil  Service  Reform  from  the  dying 
hands  of  one  who  in  this  city  and  in  such  a  company  as  this  will 
ever  be  held  in  fond  remembrance — George  William  Curtis — he 
carried  it  to  its  present  advanced  state,  and  has  thereby  done 
inestimable  good.  A  fearless  foe  of  every  wrong,  an  independent 
champion  of  every  wise  reform,  setting  personal  consequence 
always  at  defiance  where  public  service  was  concerned,  he  has 
left  to  the  young  Americans  of  the  present  and  the  future  an 

[9] 


example  of  honesty,  courage,  and  patriotism;  a  richer  legacy  than 
if  he  had  been  able  to  transmit  to  them,  or  to  each  of  them,  the 
combined  wealth  of  all  the  millionaires  of  the  land.  Truly,  to 
recall  again  the  words  of  Lincoln,  he  had  faith  that  right  makes 
might,  and  he  dared  to  the  end  to  do  his  duty  as  he  under 
stood  it. 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  I  have  now  the  rare  felicity  of  pre 
senting  to  you  the  foremost  citizen  of  our  Republic: 


ADDRESS  OF  THE 
HONORABLE  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

WHATEVER  death  may  be  to  the  dead,  to  the  living 
it  always  means  a  loss.  The  enforcement  of  its  inex 
orable  decrees  reaches  humanity  in  every  corner  of 
the  globe;  and  the  hearts  of  all  who  live  bear  in  painful  scars 
the  sad  record  of  its  visitations.  The  widow  and  the  fatherless 
are  always  with  us;  and  we  see  on  every  hand  the  dearest  ties 
of  love  and  friendship  wrenched  and  broken  by  the  insatiate  foe 
of  mortality.  But  we  know  this  is  our  common  fate,  and  that 
Divine  mercy  will  heal  and  comfort  these  personal  afflictions. 
And  those  who  devoutly  study  the  ways  of  God  with  man  will 
gain  a  conception  of  the  Infinite  wisdom  which  has  ordained 
that  the  wounds  and  losses  inevitably  and  universally  inflicted 
by  death  upon  our  individual  lives,  shall  be  the  clarifying  and 
purifying  solvents  which  balance  and  strengthen  the  complex 
elements  of  human  nature,  by  chastening  with  "the  sabler  tints 
of  woe  "  the  activities  and  delights  of  our  existence. 

These  reflections  are  merely  a  suggestive  background  for  the 
sentiments  that  befit  this  occasion.  There  are  lives  that  occupy 
a  larger  area  than  that  of  individual  association,  and  there  are 
men  who  not  only  embrace  within  their  affections  all  who  need 
help,  but  whose  course  of  life  points  out  the  way  to  honor  and 
usefulness,  and  illustrates  the  grandeur  of  a  career  devoted  for 
the  public  good.  In  our  Republic  the  death  of  such  a  man  is  a 
direct  loss  to  good  citizenship  and  a  hurt  to  our  nationality — a 
loss  more  irreparable  than  kinship  can  suffer,  and  a  hurt  more 
grievous  than  personal  sorrow  can  inflict. 

It  is  the  apprehension  of  this  truth  that  has  drawn  together 
here  to-night  the  intimate  friends  of  Carl  Schurz,  who  have 
brought  tender  recollections  of  his  affectionate  traits,  and  also 
many  others  who  knew  him  less  intimately  but  loved  him  none 


the  less  for  what  he  was  and  what  he  did  within  the  sphere  of 
patriotic  endeavor.  And  we  are  all  here  to  do  honor  to  his 
memory,  and  in  this  way  to  likewise  honor  ourselves  and  mani 
fest  our  appreciation  of  pure  and  unselfish  love  of  country. 

It  would  by  no  means  be  entirely  out  of  keeping  with  the 
occasion  to  extol  the  courage  of  battlefields  where  patriotism 
exacts  the  giving  up  of  human  lives  for  country's  sake.  But 
this  physical  courage  is  so  much  a  part  of  our  national  character 
that  its  recognition  is  universal  and  its  stimulation  is  not  among 
our  country's  needs.  What  our  nation  needs — and  sorely  needs — 
is  more  of  the  patriotism  that  is  born  of  moral  courage — the 
courage  that  attacks  abuses,  and  struggles  for  civic  reforms 
single  handed,  without  counting  opposing  numbers  or  measuring 
opposing  forces.  It  is  this  kind  of  courage,  and  the  great  public 
service  that  has  been  rendered  under  its  inspiration,  that  we 
memorialize  to-night;  and  an  undisturbed  contemplation  of  its 
heroism  and  saving  attributes  are  most  in  sympathy  with  the 
spirit  that  should  pervade  this  assemblage, 

I  believe  that  the  man  whose  memory  we  honor  never  knew 
moral  fear,  and  never  felt  the  sickening  weakness  of  moral 
cowardice.  With  him  it  was  only  to  see  what  he  believed  to  be 
injustice  or  error,  to  hurl  himself  upon  its  defences  with  the 
impetuosity  of  a  zealot  and  the  endurance  of  a  martyr.  He  did 
not  shun  politics;  but  in  his  conception,  political  activity  was 
valuable  and  honorable  only  as  it  led  the  way  to  the  performance 
of  civic  duty  and  had  for  its  end  and  purpose  the  advancement 
of  principles  and  the  enforcement  of  practices  that  best  promoted 
the  public  good.  He  had  no  toleration  for  the  over-nice  foppery 
that  drives  many  who  claim  patriotic  impulses  away  from  politics 
through  fear  of  contaminating  defilement.  He  entered  politics 
because  he  saw  his  duty  there;  and  he  found  immunity  from  de 
filement  in  cleansing  and  purifying  his  political  surroundings. 

In  recognition  of  the  affirmation  that  ours  is  a  government  by 
party,  he  did  not  disparage  political  organization,  or  hold  himself 
aloof  from  party  affiliation.  He  assumed  party  relationship  as 
an  arrangement  for  united  effort  in  the  accomplishment  of  pur 
poses  which  his  judgment  approved;  but  he  never  conceded  to 


party  allegiance  the  infallible  guidance  of  political  thought,  nor 
the  unquestioned  dictatorship  of  political  conduct.  He  believed 
there  was  a  higher  law  for  both,  and  the  din  of  party  could  not 
deafen  his  ears  to  the  still  small  voice  of  conscience.  Thus  it 
happened  that  when  party  commands  were  most  imperious  and 
when  punishment  for  party  disobedience  was  most  loudly 
threatened,  he  defiantly  proclaimed  under  the  sanction  of 
conscience,  untrammelled  political  thought  and  unfettered 
political  action;  and  thus  in  the  propaganda  of  political  individ 
ualism  he  became  a  leader,  and  taught  by  precept  and  example 
the  meaning  and  intent  of  independent  voting. 

Many  are  willing  to  defer  to  party  control  and  guidance,  and 
many  are  willing  for  the  sake  of  party  to  subordinate  their  per 
sonal  judgment  and  belief.  Some  are  so  prejudiced  by  the 
bigotry  of  sheer  partisanship  that  they  find  it  impossible  to  con 
done  insubordination  to  party  discipline.  These  conditions 
should  not  be  too  readily  condemned.  They  may  be  largely 
attributable  to  temperament  and  environment.  But  no  intelli 
gently  patriotic  citizen  can  be  blind  to  the  fact,  very  recently 
more  conclusively  established  than  ever,  that  the  political  inde 
pendence  declared  and  illustrated  by  Carl  Schurz  has  become  a 
defence  and  safeguard  of  the  people  against  the  evils  that  result 
from  the  unchallenged  growth  of  irresponsive  party  manage 
ment. 

Political  organizations  will  always  be  a  factor  in  the  equip 
ment  and  conduct  of  our  government,  and  as  long  as  parties 
exist  there  will  be  party  leaders.  But  every  thoughtful  man  who 
loves  his  country  ought  to  realize  in  this  time  of  political 
awakening  that  the  public  welfare  demands  that  parties  should 
be  in  purpose  and  mission  something  better  than  mere  machines 
to  serve  selfishness  and  the  ends  of  low  and  perverted  partisan 
ship;  nor  should  any  fail  to  detect  the  humiliation  and  disgrace 
that  attaches  to  those  who  follow  party  leadership  after  it  has 
grown  to  partisan  dictatorship  and  become  a  thing  of  proprietary 
control,  prostituted  to  the  uses  of  base  bargaining  and  treach 
erous  schemes.  No  one  can  know  so  little  of  partisan  human 
nature  as  to  suppose  that  an  honest  voter  thus  threatened  with 

[13] 


betrayal  or  disgrace  in  his  party  relationship  can  save  his  honor 
and  political  integrity  by  any  less  radical  remedy  than  loud 
protest  or  open  desertion. 

These  things  are  easily  said ;  and  they  are  easily  accepted,  as 
long  as  they  only  flatter  a  self-complacent  idleness  of  political 
virtue.  It  is  not  the  mere  slothful  acceptance  of  righteous 
political  ideas,  but  the  call  to  action  for  their  enforcement  and 
application  that  tests  the  endurance  and  moral  courage  of  men. 
He  who  sees  the  emergency  and  moves  to  the  front  where  blows 
are  given  and  taken  must  expect  that  but  few  of  the  thousands 
who  speak  bravely  will  be  at  his  side. 

Mr.  Schurz  had  the  keenest  possible  apprehension  of  this  and 
of  all  else  that  he  would  meet  in  the  path  he  had  entered  upon. 
He  was  able  to  meet  with  calm  defiance  the  denunciation  and 
ostracism  of  partisanship;  and  he  was  able  to  meet  with  undis 
guised  contempt  the  abuse  and  threats  of  party  sordidness  and 
self-seeking.  But  he  was  obliged  to  suffer  acutely  and  in  silent 
resignation  from  the  misconception  of  his  efforts  and  even  his 
motives  by  friends  he  loved,  and  from  the  distrustful  misgivings 
of  those  whose  judgment  he  greatly  valued.  And  still  he  held 
his  way — brave  beyond  the  reach  of  moral  fear,  and  confident 
beyond  the  reach  of  discouragement. 

Those  of  us  who  boast  that  we  are  Americans  by  heredity 
should  not  forget  that  he  who  thus  wrought  for  the  betterment 
of  our  nation's  political  ideas  and  practice  was  of  foreign  birth. 
And  let  us  remember,  too,  with  admiring  appreciation,  that  while 
he  never  allowed  his  loving  memory  of  his  fatherland  to  fade,  he 
at  the  same  time  earned  imperishable  honor  in  his  newer  citizen 
ship,  and  added  lustre  to  the  patriotism  of  his  nature  by  unre 
served  devotion  and  fidelity  to  his  American  allegiance.  If  his 
noble  example  and  service  suggest  a  home-thrusting  contrast, 
they  should  especially  incite  to  better  duty  and  more  political 
solicitude  those  claiming  by  birthright  an  advanced  place  in  our 
citizenship.  And  all  of  us  should  take  to  heart  the  broad  and 
impressive  lesson  taught  to  every  American  citizen  by  the  life 
and  career  of  Carl  Schurz.  It  is  the  lesson  of  moral  courage,  of 
intelligent  and  conscientious  patriotism,  of  independent  political 

[14] 


thought,  of  unselfish  political  affiliation,  and  of  constant  political 
vigilance. 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

As  you  know,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  Mr.  Schurz  was  an 
adopted  son  of  Harvard,  an  institution  which  conferred  upon 
him  its  highest  honor,  and  to  which  he  sent  both  his  sons  to  be 
educated,  where  he  was  the  President  of  the  Germanic  Museum 
Society,  and  whose  classic  shades  he  loved  to  visit.  I  can  assure 
you  that  the  respect  and  esteem  was  more  than  fully  recipro 
cated,  and  I  have  the  very  great  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you 
President  Charles  W.  Eliot  of  Harvard  University: 


t'5] 


ADDRESS  OF 
PRESIDENT  CHARLES  W.  ELIOT 

CARL  SCHURZ'S  temperament  was  buoyant,  ardent,  and 
hopeful.  He  was  an  enthusiast;  but  his  enthusiastic 
faith  carried  him  straight  into  fitting  deeds.  He  was  a 
philosopher;  but  he  seized  every  opportunity  to  apply  his  phil 
osophy  in  action.  This  noble  temperament  characterized  his 
whole  life,  from  youth  to  age.  His  formal  or  systematic  edu 
cation  was  short,  but  effective.  He  was  only  seventeen  years  old 
when  he  entered  the  University  of  Bonn  to  study  philosophy 
and  history — two  subjects  which,  according  to  present  educa 
tional  views,  require  a  good  deal  of  mental  maturity.  At  twenty 
he  was  an  adjutant  in  a  considerable  body  of  revolutionary 
troops.  At  twenty-one  he  had  rescued  his  friend  and  teacher 
Kinkel  from  the  prison  of  Spandau  and  brought  him  safely  to 
England — an  achievement  which  required  courage,  ingenuity, 
patience,  and  good  judgment.  He  was  already  possessed  of 
two  means  of  winning  an  independent  livelihood — good  proof 
of  his  capacity  and  of  the  effectiveness  of  his  education.  One 
was  giving  music  lessons,  and  the  other  was  writing  letters 
from  abroad  for  German  newspapers.  While  he  was  earning 
$36  a  month  as  a  newspaper  correspondent  in  Paris  he  learned 
to  write  and  speak  French  with  ease  and  delicacy,  thus  giving 
a  striking  illustration  of  his  remarkable  powers  in  language. 
At  twenty-three  he  came  with  his  wife  of  eighteen  to  the  United 
States,  seeking  freedom  in  a  land  where  political  freedom 
had  been  a  natural  growth.  Switzerland  had  been  his  first 
refuge,  England  his  second,  and  republican  France — soon  to 
become  imperial  France — his  third;  America  was  henceforth  his 
country,  and  what  led  him  thither  was  the  passion  for  liberty. 
Neither  he  nor  his  wife  could  understand  spoken  English  when 

[16] 


they  landed  in  New  York.  He  immediately  began  to  read  news 
papers  and  novels,  historical  and  political  essays,  and  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries,  using  the  dictionary  incessantly,  but 
making  little  use  of  an  English  grammar.  He  also  followed  a 
method  strikingly  like  that  which  Benjamin  Franklin  devised  for 
acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge  of  a  language — even  of  the 
mother  tongue.  He  translated  many  of  the  Letters  of  Junius 
into  German  and  back  again  into  English,  and  compared  this 
retranslation  with  the  English  original.  He  wrote  diligently  in 
English,  always  reading  over  and  revising  what  he  had  written. 
In  less  than  six  months  he  could  talk  easily  in  English  and  write 
a  good  letter.  This  achievement  was  the  more  remarkable 
because  he  and  his  wife  associated  chiefly  with  recently 
immigrated  Germans.  He  was  also  studying  industriously  the 
political  history  and  institutions  of  the  country  and  its  social 
conditions.  His  contemporary  observations  on  American  con 
ditions  of  life  show  remarkable  insight  and  sagacity.  He 
saw  clearly  that  political  freedom  means  freedom  to  be  feeble, 
foolish,  and  sinful  in  public  affairs,  as  well  as  freedom  to  be 
strong,  wise,  and  good.  He  saw  that  the  object  of  political 
freedom  is  to  develop  character  in  millions  of  free  men 
through  the  suffering  which  follows  mistakes  and  crimes,  and 
through  the  satisfaction  and  improvement  which  follows  on 
public  wisdom  and  righteousness.  He  saw  clearly  the  product 
iveness  of  freedom  through  the  spontaneous  cooperation  of 
private  citizens.  He  saw  how  freedom  to  do  something  awakens 
the  desire  and  develops  the  capacity  to  do  it.  In  short,  this 
sanguine  young  foreigner,  who  had  no  experience  whatever  of 
democracy  at  work,  saw  clearly  that  a  republic  is  not  an  ideal 
state,  but  a  state  in  which  good  contends  with  evil,  and  the  people 
themselves,  and  not  a  few  masters  of  the  people  do  the  fighting, 
and  so  get  instruction  both  from  defeats  through  folly  and  vice 
and  from  victories  through  good  sense  and  virtue.  He  saw  that 
the  actual  political,  industrial,  and  social  conditions  in  a  republic 
might,  like  the  actual  issue  of  a  single  individual's  struggles, 
often  be  far  below  ideal  conditions,  and  yet  freedom  to  do  wrong 
or  to  do  right  would  remain  the  best  possible  atmosphere,  indeed 

t'7] 


the  only  atmosphere,  for  national  as  for  individual  growth  in 
virtue.  He  also  perceived  that  democratic  government  could  be 
various  and  elastic,  and  that  it  had  indefinite  recuperative  power 
after  disaster.  The  whole  of  his  subsequent  career  as  a  public 
man  was  based  on  these  convictions  of  his  youth.  Thirty-five 
years  later  appeared  his  "  Life  of  Henry  Clay,"  his  largest  piece 
of  literary  work.  It  is  much  more  than  a  life  of  Clay,  being  also 
a  powerful  delineation  in  rapid  outlines  of  the  political  history 
of  fifty  pregnant  years.  Its  style  is  simple,  clear,  and  fluent,  its 
judgment  of  men  and  public  acts  temperate  and  impartial,  and 
its  moral  teaching  always  both  lofty  and  attractive.  No  biog 
raphy  of  an  American  public  man  has  been  written  with  greater 
discernment,  candor,  and  fairness.  That  it  was  written  by  a 
German  who  came  to  this  country  at  twenty-three  years  of  age, 
after  practical  experience  of  the  crude  and  visionary  revolution 
ism  of  Europe  in  1848,  and  then  entered  on  the  study  of  the 
English  language  and  of  American  political  principles,  is  an 
intellectual  and  moral  marvel.  It  demonstrates  the  consistency 
and  continuity  of  Carl  Schurz's  own  principles  of  political  action 
from  youth  to  age. 

Schurz  at  once  attached  himself  to  the  liberal  or  progressive 
side  in  American  politics,  and  in  the  first  instance  to  the  anti- 
slavery  cause.  What  gave  him  power  to  serve  greatly  the  cause 
of  freedom  was  his  gift  of  genuine  oratory,  both  in  English  and 
in  German.  His  command  of  English  for  purposes  of  public 
speech  was  extraordinary.  I  have  listened  to  many  scholars  and 
lecturers  of  foreign  birth  speaking  in  English  after  years  of 
familiar  use  of  the  English  tongue,  but  I  have  never  heard  one 
who  approached  Carl  Schurz  in  the  accuracy,  variety,  and  idio 
matic  quality  of  his  English  speech.  In  his  essays  and  speeches 
one  may  find  occasionally  a  word  which  a  native  would  hardly 
use  in  the  sense  in  which  he  uses  it,  but  the  most  attentive  critic 
will  fail  to  find  ungrammatical  phrases  or  misused  idioms.  Now 
and  fehen  a  sentence  will  recall  by  its  length  the  German  style; 
but  its  order,  inflection,  and  rhythm  will  be  English.  His  ora 
tory  was  never  florid  or  rhetorical  as  distinguished  from  logical. 
On  the  contrary,  it  was  compact,  simple,  and  eminently  moderate 

[18] 


in  form  and  rational  in  substance.  He  could  be  severe,  but  he 
was  never  vituperative;  bold,  but  never  reckless;  he  was  always 
firm,  with  a  strength  based  on  full  inquiry  and  knowledge.  On 
every  subject  which  he  treated  before  the  public  he  took  the 
utmost  pains  to  be  well  informed,  to  acquaint  himself  with  his 
adversaries'  opinions  and  feelings,  and  to  be  prepared  alike  for 
direct  advocacy  and  for  rebuttal. 

At  twenty-seven  years  of  age  he  was  already  making  political 
speeches  in  German — speeches  which  contributed  to  carrying 
Wisconsin  for  Fremont.  He  was  not  thirty  years  old  when  he 
made  his  first  political  speech  in  English.  He  contributed  to  the 
first  election  of  Lincoln  by  many  speeches  in  German  and  in 
English — a  service  which  brought  him  at  thirty-two  years  of  age 
the  appointment  as  Minister  to  Spain.  After  his  three  years' 
service  in  the  army  during  the  civil  war  he  returned  for  a  time  to 
the  calling  of  his  youth — writing  for  the  daily  press,  both  in  Ger 
man  and  English,  an  occupation  in  which  his  gifts  had  full  play. 
A  new  theatre  for  his  oratorical  powers  was  opened  to  him  when 
he  took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  in  March, 
1869,  as  Senator  from  Missouri.  Here  he  proved  his  readiness 
as  a  debater  as  well  as  his  power  as  an  orator.  Debate  often 
brings  out  a  fine  quality  which  the  oratorical  monologue  does 
not  develop — namely,  fairness  combined  with  aggressiveness. 
The  most  persuasive  debater  is  always  the  fairest  debater,  be 
cause  the  listener  who  is  not  already  a  partisan  is  only  too  apt  to 
be  unreasonably  repelled  from  the  side  which  manifests  unfair 
ness,  and  to  be  sympathetically  attracted  toward  the  other  side. 
The  ordinary  defects  of  American  speaking — bombast,  excess  in 
simile  and  metaphor,  exaggeration,  and  playing  to  the  gallery — 
Carl  Schurz  invariably  shunned.  His  oratory  was  always  high- 
minded  and  dignified,  although  it  ranged  through  all  human 
moods,  and  could  be  either  forcible  or  gentle,  plain  and  calm,  or 
dramatic  and  passionate. 

Schurz  was  always  a  leader  of  the  people,  because  he  was  an 
independent  thinker  and  a  student,  and  because  he  himself 
faithfully  followed  ideals  which  had  not  yet  become  the  ideals  of 
the  masses.  In  how  true  a  sense  he  was  a  pioneer  we  shall 

[19] 


realize  if  we  recall  the  dates  of  some  of  his  great  speeches.  In 
a  speech  on  civil  service  reform,  delivered  in  the  Senate  in  Janu 
ary,  1871,  he  laid  down  in  the  clearest  and  most  impressive  man 
ner  all  the  fundamental  principles  and  objects  of  the  reform — 
principles  which  have  not  yet  been  fully  incorporated  in  public 
law — and  to  the  close  of  his  life  he  was  a  devoted  servant  of  this 
great  reform.  Three  years  later  he  made  two  memorable 
speeches  in  the  Senate  on  banking  and  against  inflation  of  the 
currency,  his  admirable  teaching  being  inspired  not  so  much  by 
his  belief  in  the  material  or  industrial  advantages  of  a  sound  cur 
rency  as  by  his  conviction  that  an  unsound  currency  caused  both 
public  and  private  dishonesty.  The  country  has  not  yet  put  in 
practice  the  whole  of  Schurz's  doctrine  on  honest  banking  and 
honest  money.  When  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Interior  for  four 
years  he  proved  that  he  was  a  pioneer  not  only  in  the  theory  of 
reform,  but  in  the  practice  also.  The  solidity  of  Carl  Schurz's 
information,  his  independence,  and  his  quality  as  a  leader  of 
.bought  are  well  illustrated  by  his  early  dealings  with  the  subject 
of  forestry.  When  he  was  Secretary  of  the  Interior  it  was  part 
of  his  business  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  American 
forests  and  with  the  rapacious  commercial  organizations  which 
were  rapidly  destroying  them.  He  came  into  actual  conflict  with 
some  of  these  organizations,  and  during  his  tenure  of  the  Secre 
taryship  he  set  on  foot  the  resistance  to  this  wanton  destruction 
which  has  since  gathered  force  and  is  beginning  to  be  effective. 
In  an  admirable  address  delivered  before  the  American  Forestry 
Association  in  October,  1889,  Carl  Schurz  expounded  clearly 
and  completely  the  true  doctrine  of  forest  protection  and  preserva 
tion,  anticipating  public  opinion  by  many  years,  at  a  time  when 
an  advocate  of  such  views  had  nothing  to  expect  but  ridicule 
and  abuse. 

The  nature  of  the  other  public  causes  in  which  he  labored 
testifies  to  the  same  virtue  in  him  of  leadership  based  on  idealism. 
In  his  later  years  he  became  an  ardent  advocate  of  arbitration  in 
international  disputes,  and  hence  an  expounder  of  the  atrocities 
oS  war,  of  its  demoralizing  subsequent  effects,  and  of  its  frequent 
futility  in  settling  disputes.  In  his  latest  years  he  lent  the  whole 

[20] 


force  of  his  reputation  and  his  eloquence  to  the  feeble  minority 
which  opposed  the  extension  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  United 
States  over  conquered  peoples.  Again  he  was  true  to  his  ideals 
and  to  the  ideals  of  Washington  and  Lincoln.  Like  Washington 
he  urged  his  adopted  country  to  "observe  good  faith  and  justice 
toward  all  nations."  Like  Lincoln  he  believed  that  "  our  defence 
is  in  the  spirit  which  prizes  liberty  as  the  heritage  of  all  men  in 
all  lands." 

Carl  Schurz  was  a  thinker,  a  writer,  an  orator,  and  a  doer — 
all  four;  and  he  loved  liberty.  St.  James  describes  him  perfectly 
in  his  General  Epistle:  "Whoso  looketh  into  the  perfect  law  of 
liberty  and  continueth  therein,  he  being  not  a  forgetful  hearer 
but  a  doer  of  the  work,  this  man  shall  be  blessed  in  his  deed." 
This  freeman,  truly  blessed  in  his  deeds  throughout  a  long  and 
busy  life,  is  the  greatest  American  citizen  of  German  birth. 


The  Liederkranz  Chorus,  which  had  volunteered  its  services, 
then  sang,  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Arthur  Claasen,  its  leader, 
Engelsberg's  Meine  Muttersprache. 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

This  occasion  does  not  belong  to  New  York,  or  to  America, 
alone;  Germany  is  entitled  to,  and  claims,  her  fair  share  in  it, 
and  in  token  of  that,  I  have  the  great  honor  of  presenting  to  you 
Professor  Eugene  Kiihnemann,  of  the  University  of  Breslau,  now 
happily  a  visiting  professor  at  Harvard,  who  will  address  you  in 
his  own  and  Carl  Schurz's  native  tongue: 


ADDRESS  OF 
PROFESSOR  EUGENE  KUHNEMANN 

ein  erfteS  20Sort  an  biefer  ©tefle  mufe  ein  SQSort  be§ 
2)anle§  fein,  eineS  2)an!e§,  ber,  mie  id^  glaube,  bon 
aflen  beutfdjen  ©tammeggenofftti  gefiifylt  mirb.  S)iefe 
gfeier  beranftalten  $Imerifaner  einem  iljjrer  grbfeten 
ger.  Sari  ©d^urg  I)at  feinen  ©tolg  barein  gefetjt, 
al3  ein  treuer  unb  mafyrer  amerifanifdfjer  SSiirger  gu 
fein.  5lber  au§  bem  beutfcfyen  SSaterlanbe  ftammte  bodfj  bie  Shaft, 
bie  er  im  2)ienfte  5lmeri!a§  entfaltet  ^at.  2)arum  liegt  fo  biel  feine 
SOBiirbigung  barin,  bag  3U  feiner  Sfjre  an  biefer  ©telle  ein  2)eutfd^er 
in  feiner  beutfc^en  5D^utterfprac^e  3U  3ftnen  reben  barf.  2)a§  beutfd^e 
£ieb  3um  ^prei§  ber  5D?utterfpradfje  ift  3Ubor  erlhtngen,  aud^  bieg  in 
feinftem  SBerftdnbnig  feiner  ©eele,  bie  in  ber  2ftuftf  lebte  unb  bie 
beutfd^e  ©prad^e  al§  bie  ©pradje  be§  £iebe§  geliebt  Ijat.  3uS^e^ 
!ommt  barin  bie  gange  ©efd^id^te  be§  5(Jianne§  gum  5Iu§brurf,  ber 
gmei  SOBelten  angeprte  unb  ein  2fteifter  gmeier  ©prad^en  mar.  2)ie§ 
mar  feine  ©rbfee  unb  fein  ©crjirffal,  fein  &\M  unb  biefletd^t  ein  menig 
aud^  fein  ©dfjmerg,  fein  §elbenlieb  unb  biefleid)t  feine  Sragbbie.  SQSaS 
er  5lmeri!a  bebeutete,  ge3iemt  nid^t  bem  3?remben  311  berfiinben;  ber 
2)eutfd^e  aber  barf  fprec!)en  iiber  ben  beutfdjen  DO^ann  in  Sari  ©dfjurg. 
Sr  ift  geboren  am  beutfdfjen  (Strome  be§  9fl^etn§.  llnbergeffene 
§eimat^erinnerungen  fltngen  in  einer  feiner  fd^bnften  beutfdjen  Jfte^ 
ben  mieber:  ,,mit  me^mut^iger  Suft  ben!en  mir  an  bie  griinen  SQSaffer 
be§  ^eimat^Iid^en  9Rfjein§;  in  benen  ftcf)  bie  alter^grauen,  fagenum- 
mobenen  Surgen  fptegeln;  mo  bie  eble  Srauoe  gtiir)t;  mo  ber  9ftenfd() 
fro^  ift,  audj  oBne  gu  miff  en  marum;  mo  ba§  beutfd^e  £ieb  boppelt 
poettfdf)  Htngt;  mo  bom  97iebermalb  ba§  SSilb  ber  fieg^aften  ©ermania 
fo  trofcig  iiber  bie  ©rense  blirft;  an  bag  f(f)bne  liebe  fianb,  bon  bem 
jeber  gufe  breit  un§  treuer  ift."  Sr  mar  ein  S!inb  be§  S3ol!e§  unb 

[»»] 


Ijat  ba§  geftalten-  unb  farBenreidfje  SSilb  be§  beutfdjen  $o(fe3  jener 
3eit  in  bie  !inblid(je  ©eele  Begierig  aufgenommen.  <ftodfy  leBten  bie 
§eIbeniiBerIieferungen  be§  8efreUmg8!riege8.  Unb  an  ben  @efpradjen 
fluger  banner  am  §erbfeuer  entftidfelte  ftd)  ber  erfte  pfjantafie&ofle 
2Tntfjei(  an  bcr  grofeen  SDBelt.  5lu3  bem  SD^unbc  be§  33ater3  prte  er 
3um  erften  2ftale  Don  2Q3aff)ington  al§  bem  ebelften  £elben  ber  ©e* 
fc^id^te.  (5r  gtng  burd^  bie.'beutfcfie  Sd^uferjte^ung  mit  iljrer  ©riinb- 
lid^lcit  unb  ifjrer  bielfeiitgen  5tnrcgung  felbftftanbiger  SSeftrebungen. 
(5r  tourbe  al§  einer  ber  3?eurtgften  crgrtffen  bon  ben  golbenen  §off- 
nungen  be§  S3bI!erfrii^Itng§  unb  tebte  ,,bem  gro^en  SrlDedungSja^rc", 
toic  er  e§  genannt  ^at,  freubig  entgegen.  (So  tourbe  bte  gange  ©eete 
be§  flei^igen  jungen  ©tubenten  erfiiflt  bon  bem  ©eban!en  an  fein 
unb  feme  gret^eit.  (£§  mar,  al§  rooUte  ber  ©laube  grtebnd^ 
^tniiber  n?tr!en  in§  polttifd^e  fieben,  5Iber  ©d^urg  ermie3 
aud^  ben  ©rnft,  bte  5Iufopferitng,  ben  3Jiut^.  @g  tear  fein  ©laube 
ber  SSorte,  fonbern  ber  Sfjaten.  (5r  ^at  bie  SOSaffen  ergrtffen  unb 
in  ber  reDoIuttonaren  5trmee  ge!iimpft  fiir  bie  33ol!§fretf)eit,  toie  er 
fie  Derftanb,  2Bie  ein  §elbenlieb  lefen  ftd^  jene  ^apilel  feineS 
mit  ber  tounberBaren  glud^t  au^  ber  geftung  Sflaftatt.  3n 
ber  (Srniicfyterung  mu^te  er  bag  entfagenbe  £eBen  be§  glii 
fii^ren.  5Tber  bie  Dpfertreue  fiir  ben  5teun^  9&It  ^nt  me^r  aB 
ba§  eigene  fieben.  2)urcf)  bie  SSefreiung  $infel3  au§  bem  3u^^aug 
ermarb  er  europa'ifd)en  SRu^m,  ben  SRu^m,  ben  bie  menfdfylidfj  guten, 
aufopfernben  S^aien  geben,  unb  mu^te  boc^  fcfytoer  genug  ftcf)  roeiter 
mii^en  um  feine  (Syifteng.  SQBie  ift  bie§  3^n9^n9^^en  re^  an  ^em 
fdjbnften  3Reic^i^um  ber  3u9en^«  ^cr  §ingabe  be§  gangen  £eben§  an 
eine  Begeifternbe  3bee.  2)ic  %lot$  be§  SSaterlanbeS  ^at  i^m  fein  $11* 
genbleben  gu  einem  ^inrei^enben  ©ebid)te  gemac^t. 

2)a§  beutf(f»e  SSol!  ^ie§  bamatS  ncd^  ba§  S5ol!  ber  S)td)ter  unb 
2)en!er»  ©c^urj  aber  erfd^eint  unB  al§  ein  edfjter  2)id^terjiingling, 
ber  in  feinem  fieben,  in  feinen  S^aten  btd^tct.  Unb  iiber  bie  raufjen 
©tb^e  ber  SQBirfltdjfett  ^inteeg  tragt  i^n  bie  ©unft  ber  30^ufe,  bie 
feine  ©eele  erlefen  ^at.  ©einer  ©elbentfyat  banfte  er  bie  £iebe  be3 
SSeiBe§,  ba§  i^m  fein  SeBen  fc^enftc.  3n  ^^e  rteue  ©eimatlj  feiner 
SDBa^I,  nad^  5Imeri!a  Brad^te  er  bie  beutfd^e  ©IciuBigleit.  3^m  tnar 
e§  ba§  golbene  fianb  ber  Biirgertid^en  grei^eit.  ©eine  beutfdje  S3il- 


bung  ermbglidjte  irjm  ba3  fdmefle  Gringefjen  in  bie  frembe  28elt  bee 
engltfc^en  (Spradje.  2)ie  berceglidje  germamfdje  (Sdjbpferfraft 
ifm  ein  neueS  £eben  finben  in  ben  ©ebanfen  grower  bffentlictjer 
famfeit  fur  ba3  amerifanifdje  23olf.  9?eiblo3  erfennen  roir  2)eutfdje, 
roie  erft  ba§  neue  SSaterlanb  ir)m  bie  grofcen  9ftbglid)leiten  bot  fiir  bie 
botte  (Sntfaltung  feiner  ungerootynltdjen  5Mfte.  (5r  tnurbe  eincr  ber 
erften  unter  ben  $ufyurn  feineS  S3olh§. 

(Seine  gange  politifd^e  SQSir!fam!eit  in  Amenta  lt)ar  getragen  bon 
feinem  beutfcfjen  3^ea^gmu^«  5Imerifa  follte  fein,  fo  rt>ie  ex  e§ 
glaubte  unb  Itebte,  ba§  £anb  ber  SRecfytydjaffenfyeit  unb  ©efe^nc^leit, 
bie  biirgerliifje  9RepubIi!  ber  aEgemeinen  unb  ina^ren  ftxttytil,  lute 
fiincoln  e§  in  feinem  £tebling§ft>orte  au§gebriic!t:  ,,bie  ^Regierung  beB 
SSoIteg,  burd^  ba§  S3ollf  fiir  ba§  23ol!."  5«o(f)te  man  ifyn  einen  Srciu^ 
mer  fcfielten,  er  rief  guriid:  ,,3^ea^e  fm^  9^^)  ^en  ©ternen.  2)u 
roirft  fte  nicfyt  mit  ber  §anb  beriifjren,  aber  gleid^  bem  ©eefa^rer  auf 
ben  SSiiften  ber  SQSaffer  md^Ift  bu  fte  al§  3u'^rerr  fotgft  i^nen  unb  er- 
reid^ft  beine  Seftimmung."  liefer  3^ea^^^u^  ergeugte  feinen  9ftutfy, 
ber,  tt»ie  er  fagte,  bag  erfte  (Srforbernifj  fiir  bie  ^ii^rerfd^aft  in  einer 
gro^en  <Sadje  ift.  @r  er^ielt  i^m  bie  Itnabfjangigfeit,  bie  ba§  ^ftei^t 
oHein  sum  fieitftern  nafim  unb  r)bljer  ad^tete  alg  bie  ^orberungen  ber 
Cartel  2)enn  nad^i  if)m  tear  e§  ftet§  ber  unab^a'ngige  ©eift,  ber 
5IHeg  iibertt)inbenbe  (Sinn  fiir  ^Sflicfit,  ber  ben  SQSeg  brad)  fiir  jeben 
groften  ^ortfc^ritt  ber  amerifanifrfjen  (Sef^irfjte.  ,,2Se^e  ber  SRepu- 
bli!,  menn  fie  t>ergeben§  llmfdfiau  ^ielte  nad^  3[Ra'nnern,  bie  bie 
SQSafjrfyeit  fud^en  o^ne  SSorurt^eile,  bie  2Baf)rfjeit  fagen  o^ne  ftuifyi, 
mie  fte  fte  berftefjen,  mag  bie  2SeIt  fie  pren  mollen  ober  nic^t."  (So 
roar  fein  gange§  bffentlicf)e§  Seben  ein  ein^iger  SDienft  ber  fittlic^en 
3bee;  in  ber  er  5Imeri!a'§  ©rbfte  unb  3u^unft  fa^/  e^n  2)tenft,  ber 
nidfyt  erla^mte,  aud^  roenn  e§  burdj  (Sd^mergen,  ($infam!eit  unb  ©nt- 
taufdfyitng  ging.  (So  bon  feinem  (Sintreten  fiir  Sincoln,  feiner  Arbeit 
fiir  bie  <S!Iabenbefreiung,  feinen  DO^ii^en  urn  ben  SSteberaufbau  be§ 
(Siiben§  an  bi§  3U  bem  ^ampf  gegen  bie  9ftangel  ber  SSerroaltung 
unb  gegen  SSeftrebungen  in  bie  gerne,  bon  benen  er  fc^Iimme  SQSir- 
!ungen  fiir  bie  biirgerlic^e  Sftepublif  befiircfitete.  lln§  2)eutfd^e  rii^rt 
tnmitten  alter  biefer  2)inge  bie  (Sorge  urn  bie  SSalber,  aul  ter  bie 
innige  ftaturliebe  be§  beutfdfjen  HJlanneS  mie  bie  SSorauSftc^t  be§  rcei- 


fen  33olf3ft>irtf)»  fprtdjt.  (£r  tear  ftd)  felber  treu  unb  ba§  fjtefc  bei 
ifjm,  cr  toar  feinen  ^bealen  *reu»  ®°  toanbten  ftdj  bie  SReben  be3 
grofcen  SHebnerS  in  stoei  ©pracfyen,  tote  ©chiller  e3  Don  bcm  23olf§= 
erjiefjer  berlangte,  an  ba§  S3efte  bet  menfdjlidjen  <ftatur.  S)te  Often- 
fdfjen  beftimmen  Ijiefj  fiir  ifyn:  bie  2ftenfd()en  tjeben.  llnb  audj  Don 
ifym  gilt,  IDO§  er  toon  feinem  greunbe  ©umncr  gefagt  fjat:  ,,§inter 
allem,  tt»a§  er  fagte  unb  tfyat,  ftanb  bie  pracfjiige  ^annli^eit,  bie 
man  unfe^Ibar  f)inburcij  empfanb/' 

3h)ii(^en  fiincoln  unb  23i3marc!  fte^t  fiir  un§  biefer  grofje  3)eutf(^* 
5(meri!aner  al§  gtnif^en  ben  grbfeten  23ol!§^  unb  StaatSfii^rern  neuerer 
3eiten  unb  in  ber  grbfeten  gefifiic^tlid^en  £rifi§  Beiber  23bl!er.  ^iir 
£incoln  unb  mit  i^m  Ijat  er  gearbeitet,  in  SSi^mard  ^at  er  bie  fretlid^ 
tounberfame  unb  unerftartete  (5rfiiHung  feiner  3u'ngnng§traume  er^ 
Icbt.  5(ber  fein  alte§  burgerlidj  liberate^  §erg  fd^Iug  bod^i  fiir  fiin= 
coin  me^r,  ,,bcn  DD^ann,  ber  nid^t  nur  tiom  niebrigften  itrfprung  it)ar, 
fonbern  audf)  ber  etnfadjfte  unb  anfprut^tofefte  ber  S3iirger  blteb  unb 
er^b^t  tr»arb  311  einer  9ftadjtftettung  o^ne  ©leic^en  in  ber  ameritani- 
fc^en  ©efd^id^te,  ber,  ber  fanftefte  ber  ©ierbtidfjen,  teine  ^reatur  lei- 
ben  fe^en  !onnte  ofjne  dualen  ber  eigenen  Sriift,  unb  ber  jtd^  plb^li(f)  be^ 
rufen  fanb,  ben  blutigften  $rieg  gu  fiifjren,  ber  bie  3ftegierutig§geiDaIt 
ten!te,  alg  erbarmung^Iofe  ©tatle,  ba§  ©efefe  be§  Sage§  tear,  unb  ber 
bann  S3ol!3geift  unb  SSoH^^erg  getnann  unb  leitete  burtf)  bie  garten 
<5t)mpat^ien  feiner  5Ratur,  ber  borfidjtig^fonfertiatit)  bon  temperament 
unb  ©etnof)nf)eit  bie  plbfeltd^ftc  unb  allcS  fcrtfdjtoemmenbe  fociale  3Re= 
Solution  unferer  3e^  3U  Ictten  be!am,  ber  bie  einfadje  ©prac^e  unb 
Icinblicfje  SBeife  in  ber  ^bcf)ften  ©tellung  jcner  (Spodfie  beibe^ielt  unb 
ben  ©pott  ber  guten  ©efeHfcfjaft  erregte,  unb  ber  bann  bie  (Seele  ber 
2ftenfd$eit  ergittern  mad^te  mit  5teu^erungen  bon  munberboller  ©d^on* 
^eit  unb  ©rbfee,  ber,  in  feinem  §ergen  ber  befte  greunb  be§  beftegten 
©iibenS,  ermorbet  tnurbe,  meil  ein  tna^nftnniger  5anai^er  ^n  f^r 
feinen  graufamften  fteinb  na^m,  ber  in  feiner  DEJJad^t  iiber  afle§  2JMa& 
oerfpottet  unb  berp^nt  murbe  bon  gegnerifdtjer  fictbcnfd^aft  unb  auf- 
geregtem  ^arteigeift  unb  urn  beffen  ©rab  greunb  unb  ^einb  ftd^  fam* 
melten,  i^n  gu  preifen,  ft>a3  fie  feitbem  nicmal§  aufgeprt  fyaben  gu 
tr/un,  al§  einen  ber  grbjjten  5tmerilaner  unb  ben  beften  ber 
fd^en."  3n  SSiSmarcf  3  S^aten  ^at  ©d^ura  bieUeidE)t  mefyr  mit  ber 


tafte  beg  2)id)terg  bag  beraufdjenbe  §elbengebidjt  gefefyen. 
toar  ein  ©djaufpiel,  toie  ber  einft  fo  berfpottete  beutfdfye  2ftid()el  plbfc- 
Iid()  aug  bem  ©dljlafe  ertoadjte;  toie  er  bie  getoaltigen  ©Iteber  redte; 
tote  er  feinen  ©dfjilb  fdjiittelte,  bafc  er  Hang  toie  alle  2)onner  beg 
3?irmamentg;  toie  bag  ©tampfen  feineg  ffugeg  ben  23oben  ©uropag 
ergittern  madjte;  toie  er  mit  mddjtigem  ©cijtoertfdjlag  ben 
iibermiit^igen  %tin\)  bor  fid)  in  ben  ©taub  toarf;  toie  er  mit 
^ofaunenftimme  augrief:  ,,bag  gange  2)eutfd)Ianb  foil  eg 
fein";  unb  tote  bie  2ftenfdjijett  ftaunenb  aufblidte  an  ber  riefigen 
§elbengeftalt."  Ob  in  bem  23erf)dltntf3  3U  SBigmarc!  biefleicl)t  bie 
Srennung  liegt  gtoifd^en  ber  jungen  ©eneration  SDeutfdfylanbg  unb 
tf)m,  unb  ob  eg  eine  Srennung  genau  ber  gleidfyen  5trt  tft,  bie  il)n 
bon  ben  jiingeren  Seftrebungen  Slmertfag  fdfjieb,  toollen  toir  nur  efjr* 
fiirc^tig  fragen.  ling  fd^etnt  bag  gange  fiebenSgefii^t  beg  2)eutfd^en 
beranbert,  feit  toir  im  3Reirf)e  kben  alg  einer  ©rofemadfit  unb  gleid^- 
bered^tigt  neben  bie  ^errfc^enben  D^ationen  ber  ($rbe  getreten  finb. 
SSielleid^t  erneuert  ftd^  baburdf)  aud^  bag  SSerljciltnife  ber  SSu'rger  beut- 
fdfjen  ©tammeg  gu  i^rem  ameri!anifd^en  SSaljIbaterlanbe.  2)od^  bleibt 
darl  ©c^urg  ber  grofee  5Iugbru(f  ber  fiebenggemeinfcf)aft  gtoifcfyen 
5Imeri!a  unb  2)eutfd^Ianb,  er,  ber  ein  Elaffifer  in  ben  ©prad^en  bet* 
ber  fidnber  toar.  2Bie  leiner  toar  er  gum  filter  unb  SSorfpred^er 
aller  3eu9n^ffe  biefer  Sebenggemetnfd^aft  berufen.  2)ag  germani- 
fdfje  DD^ufeum  in  Sambribge  gd^It  iljn  mit  ftolgeftcm  SRed^t  alg  ben 
erften  feiner  ^raftbenten  unb  gebenft  mit  ^reube  feiner  SSegriifeungg- 
toorte  bei  ber  (Sintoei^ung.  3n  feinem  gro^en  ©inne  rief  er  bie 
2)eutfdf)en  5lmeri!ag  auf,  bieg  2Ber!  gu  ^egen  unb  gu  enttoidteln.  lln^ 
berminbert  blieb  bie  beutfdfje  3nnig!eit  feineg  ©efii^Ig.  5Il§  beut* 
fd^er  Std^ter  ^at  er  fein  fieben  befc^Ioffen.  5)enn  bie  (5rinnerun- 
gen  feiner  3u9en^^  D^e  en9^W  3U  fc^retBen  i^m  unmbglid^  toar, 
geljbren  gu  ben  fd^bnften  ^rofabidjtungen  in  beutfd^er  ©praise. 

5In  bem  ©rabe  bon  Sari  ©dfjurg  reidfjen  bie  beiben  S3bl!er  in 
ber  gleic^en  Srauer  ftcf)  bie  o^anb,  ober  fte  legen  beibe  bie  §dnbe  an 
benfelben  £rang.  5^idf)t  o^ne  SBeljmut^  fte^t  bie  2ftutterl)eimatl) 
uralteg  ©ermanenfd^idffal  in  i^m  toieberfplt,  -  -  bafe  in  einem  i^rer 
beften  ©b^ne  ein  ©tiidt  it)rer  ©ef^ic^te  in  einer  fremben  2Q3eIt  ftc§ 
abgefpielt  ^at.  2>enn  ber  ©efd^id^te  beiber  23bl!er  gefjbrt  er  an. 

[26] 


bantt  ifjm,  baft  er  mte  toenige  bie  ^flidjt  beg  2)eutfd)en  in  ber 
grembe  erfiiflte,  bag  33efte  beutfdjen  2Q3efeng  einge^n  311  laffen  in 
bic  neuc  9ftenfdj^it,  bte,  fdjeint  «g,  auf  biefer  Srbe  aug  ben  alien 
<ftationen  ftd)  Bilben  foil,  3n  ber  gemeinfamen  Arbeit  fiir  btefc 
3bee  ftnb  bie  beiben  SSblfer  of)ne  ©egenfatj  unb  ©treit  oerBunben. 
2)an!  bem  grofjen  Sobten  fiir  feine  Sreue!  ^and^er  2)eutf(^^meri# 
!aner  tnirb  in  feinem  ftamen  bag  ©eliibbe  erneuetn,  toie  et  ba§ 
SBefte  in  beutfdjer  Sreue  ^ingugeBen,  tnenn  audj  tnenige  mit  i^m  it>ett* 
eifern  Ib'nnen  an  iReic^t^um  ber  geiftigen  ©aben.  3ft  un§  bod^f 
al§  tcciren  bie  beutfd^en  ©tammeggenoffen  ber  3u*unft  wtf*  noc^ 
f(f)ulbig,  al§  fte  ber  SSergangen^eit  geleiftet  f)aben,  ba  ba§  erneute 
SSaterlanb  aflem  beittfc^en  SSefen  ein  neue§  ^raftgefiifyl  gab,  unb 
e§  bem  §eutigen  urn  fo  biel  me^r  gur  ^Pflid^l  tnirb,  iiberall  auf  ber 
(5rbe  fid^  eingufe^en  mit  feiner  tierjiingten,  gangen  beutfd^en  ©eele, 
9(ftb'ge  bag  gro^e  SSorMIb  tion  $art  ©d^urg  mit  fold^em  ©tad^el 
toirfen.  2)ann  tnirb  an  i^m  toaljr  inerben,  tnag  er  bon  <5unmer  ge* 
fagt  {jat:  ,,Dbtno^l  fein  ^b'rper  in  ber  @rbe  liegt,  lebt  er  fort  in 
ben  gefidjerten  9Redf)ten  aHer,  in  ber  SBruberfdjaft  beg  geeinten  SSoI* 
!eg,  in  ber  geeinten  3RepubIi!,  unb  totrb  leben  fiir  immer."  Unb 
toie  er  nid^tg  geliebt  I)at  gleid^  feinem  neuen  SSaterlanbe,  Begleitet 
i^n  bann  big  ing  ©raft,  toag  er  alg  bag  f)bcfyfte  ©liid  gepriefen: 
,,Sg  giebt  lein  fdfjbnereg  unb  ooHftdnbigereg  &IM  in  ber  2Beft, 
alg  bag  Setoufjtfein,  gu  bem  ©liirfe  2)erer,  bie  man  lieb  ^at,  Beige* 
tragen  311  IjaBen,  ol§ne  einen  anberen  fioljn  gu  oerlangen  alg  bie§ 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

I  have  now  the  great  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you  the 
Honorable  Charles  J.  Bonaparte,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  long 
closely  allied  with  Mr.  Schurz  in  the  noble  work  of  Civil  Service 
Reform : 


ADDRESS  OF  THE 
HONORABLE  CHARLES  J.  BONAPARTE 

A  MONUMENT  to  Carl  Schurz  exists  to-day,  it  exists, 
nay  more,  it  lives,  lives  in  the  amended  laws  of  his 
adopted  country,  lives  in  the  enlightened  thoughts  and 
beliefs  of  Americans  taught  by  him  and  those  banded  with 
him  to  know  and  cleave  to  the  right  in  choosing  public  ser 
vants  for  the  people's  work.  Thirty  years  ago,  when  he  was 
called  into  the  counsels  of  President  Hayes,  so  much  of  such 
work  as  fell  to  civil  servants  was  in  large  part  entrusted  to 
men  and  women  chosen,  not  because  they  were  fit  to  serve 
the  public,  but  because  they  were  fit  to  serve  politicians,  and 
generally  because  they  were  fit  for  nothing  else.  Our  public 
offices  were  then  too  often  asylums  for  incompetency  and  ill 
repute,  recruited  in  great  measure,  from  the  failures  and  out 
casts  of  creditable  callings,  those  too  weak,  indolent,  and  vicious 
to  hold  their  own  in  any  worthy  field  of  competition.  Every 
where  our  politics,  National,  State,  and  Municipal,  were  de 
bauched  by  the  wide  and  unrebuked  prevalence  of  a  peculiarly 
mean  and  baleful  form  of  bribery,  the  use  of  public  employment 
to  influence  votes  and  reward  party  service;  huge  corruption 
funds  were  constantly  accumulated  by  openly  taxing  the  salaries 
of  public  servants  for  partisan  use;  and,  as  the  most  faithful 
service  to  the  people  could  assure  no  one  continued  employment 
when  partisan  greed  clamored  for  his  place,  so  the  most  scandal 
ous  misconduct  might  be  readily  condoned  if  the  culprit  had 
"  pull,"  or  stood  well  with  the  dominant  "  machine." 

It  is  no  abuse  of  emphatic  language  to  say  that  the  general 
acceptance  of  the  "spoils"  theory  of  politics  by  American  pub 
lic  opinion,  in  other  words,  our  acquiescence  in  the  doctrine  that 
public  offices  are  not  posts  of  trust,  but  mere  means  of  private 
gain,  in  very  truth,  "spoils;"  and  therefore  that  any  sensible 

[28] 


man  is  "in  politics  only  for  what  he  can  get  out  of  them,"  in 
those  days  constituted  a  great  national  disgrace  and  a  great 
national  danger.  That  disgrace  has  been  largely  redeemed, 
that  danger  has  been  in  great  part  averted  through  a  resolute 
and  patient  struggle,  continued  now  for  many  years,  amidst  many 
disappointments,  apostacies  and  failures,  by  a  small  number  of 
men,  who,  in  season  and  but  of  season,  have  cried  out  against 
the  shame  and  iniquity  of  such  doctrines  and  such  practices, 
until  they  have  gained  the  people's  ear  and  awakened  the  people's 
conscience.  To  speak  of  these  men  is  to  think  of  Carl  Schurz. 

He  taught  by  example  that  a  great  Department  of  the  Federal 
Government  could  be  successfully  administered  on  the  principles 
of  Civil  Service  Reform  before  there  was  a  Civil  League  or 
Association  to  demand  such  a  law.  Restored  to  private  life,  he 
gave  his  aid  to  form  the  New  York  Association  and  the  National 
League,  and,  from  their  organization  to  his  death,  contributed  so 
zealously  of  his  time,  his  talents,  and  his  labor  in  their  work  that 
their  history  is  his  history,  their  merit  his  merit,  their  success  his 
success.  In  well-nigh  everything  which  has  made  for  righteous 
ness  in  the  progress  of  this  great  reform,  in  our  remedial  laws, 
in  our  corrected  customs,  whether  of  administration  or  politics, 
in  the  growth  of  a  strong  and  healthy  public  opinion,  in  the 
quickening  of  the  Nation's  sense  of  right,  one  who  searches  will 
find  the  influence,  direct  or  indirect,  evident  or  slightly  veiled, 
of  his  earnest,  persistent,  and  eloquent  advocacy,  will  see  the 
stamp  of  his  work. 

He  is  dead,  and  the  work  is  not  yet  done;  but  enough  of  it  is 
done  to  make  sure  the  doing  of  what  remains  to  do,  and  what  he 
did  for  it  will  live  after  him  to  aid  those  who  for  years,  doubtless 
for  more  than  one  generation  of  men,  must  yet  tread  the  path  he 
trod  ere  they  reach  the  goal  to  which  he  pointed.  In  every 
combat  for  honest  government  and  pure  politics,  in  every  effort 
to  give  our  country  faithful  servants,  and,  with  and  through  such 
servants,  rulers  worthy  of  her  greatness,  his  spirit  will  guide,  his 
memory  will  inspire  the  men  who  strive  for  the  right.  Those  he 
taught  and  led  will  pass  on  his  teaching  to  such  as  they  in  turn 
must  lead  in  the  like  struggle  for  the  same  ends;  and  when  there 


shall  be  in  America  no  man  in  any  public  employment  for  any 
other  reason  than  because  the  man  or  men  who  put  him  there 
believed  him  of  all  who  might  be  chosen  best  fitted  to  do  well 
the  work  he  would  there  have  to  do,  when  that  time  comes, 
there  will  have  been  rounded  to  full  completion  the  most  lasting 
and  most  fitting  of  monuments  to  the  virtues  and  the  services  of 
Carl  Schurz. 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

We  shall  now  have  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  a  poem  by  Mr. 
Richard  Watson  Gilder. 

Mr.  Gilder  then  read  the  following  poem: 


[30] 


CARL  SCHURZ 

IN  youth  he  braved  a  monarch's  ire 
To  set  the  people's  poet  free; 
Then  gave  his  life,  his  fame,  his  fire 
To  the  long  praise  of  liberty. 

His  life,  his  fame,  his  all  he  gave 
That  not  on  earth  should  live  one  slave; 
True  freedom  of  the  soul  he  sought 
And  in  that  battle  well  he  fought. 

He  fought,  and  yet  he  loved  not  war, 
But  looked  and  labored  for  the  day 

When  the  loud  cannon  silent  are 
And  holy  peace  alone  hath  sway. 

Ah,  what  a  life!     From  youth  to  age 
Keeping  the  faith,  in  noble  rage. 
Ah,  what  a  life!     From  knightly  youth 
Servant  and  champion  of  the  truth. 

Not  once,  in  all  his  length  of  days 

That  falchion  flashed  for  paltry  ends; 

So  wise,  so  pure,  his  words  and  ways, 

Even  those  he  conquered  rose  his  friends, 

For  went  no  rancor  with  the  blow; 
The  wrong,  and  not  the  man,  his  foe. 
He  smote  not  meanly,  not  in  wrath; 
That  truth  might  speed  he  cleaved  a  path. 

The  lure  of  place  he  well  could  scorn 
Who  knew  a  mightier  joy  and  fate; — 

The  passion  of  the  hope  forlorn, 
The  luxury  of  being  great; — 

The  deep  content  of  souls  serene 
Who  gain  or  lose  with  equal  mien; 
Defeat  his  spirit  not  subdued, 
Nor  victory  marred  his  noble  mood. 

[31] 


The  Chorus  of  the  Arion  Society,  which  had  also  volunteered 
its  services,  then  sang,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Julius  Lorenz, 
its  conductor,  Max  Zenger's  Gebet. 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

I  now  have  the  honor  to  present  to  you  Professor  Hermann 
Schumacher,  of  the  University  of  Bonn,  where  Carl  Schurz  was 
educated,  now,  happily,  by  exchange  for  a  semester,  a  Professor 
in  Columbia  University: 


[3*1 


ADDRESS  OF 
PROFESSOR  HERMANN  A.  SCHUMACHER 

AMERICA,  in  whose  beloved  soil  rests  all  that  is  earthly 
of  Carl  Schurz,  is  foremost  in  honoring  him  to-night. 
But  as  in  his  heart  the  love  of  his  native  land  never 
ceased  to  rival  his  devotion  to  the  American  people,  so  the 
country,  in  which  Carl  Schurz  was  born  and  educated,  also 
claims  him  as  one  of  its  greatest  sons. 

As  a  member  of  the  University  of  Commerce  in  the  city  of 
Cologne,  where  Schurz  attended  school,  and  as  a  Professor  of 
the  University  of  Bonn,  where  as  a  gifted  and  spirited  student 
of  twenty  years  he  gave  to  his  life  its  decisive  turn, — from  the 
native  soil  of  Carl  Schurz,  where  we  so  heartily  hoped  to  wel 
come  him  this  summer  at  the  unveiling  of  Kinkel's  statue,  I 
bring  greetings  of  sympathy  and  good  will.  I  am  grateful  to 
have  the  opportunity  of  paying  on  behalf  of  all  Germany  this 
tribute  of  love  and  admiration  to  the  man  whom  we  commemo 
rate  to-night. 

This  memorial  is  of  a  unique  character.  It  is  the  only 
instance  of  which  I  know  where  two  nations  join  in  celebrating 
one  whose  official  position  did  not  place  him  among  the  powerful 
of  the  land,  and  who  cannot  be  regarded  as  merely  a  scientist  or 
a  man  of  letters,  brilliant  and  profound  as  his  writings  are. 

What  is  it  that  two  great  nations  admire  and  honor  in  this 
personality  ?  What  explains  the  extraordinary  influence,  the 
great  success  of  Carl  Schurz?  It  may  be  summed  up  in  the 
phrase:  German  idealism. 

This  idealism  of  Schurz  was,  in  the  first  place,  an  ethical 
quality.  Never  did  personal  interests  exercise  an  influence  upon 
his  public  acts.  He  formed  his  decisions  with  utter  disregard  of 
consequences.  He  showed  in  all  his  actions  a  heroic  courage,  a 
courage  inherited  from  his  noble  mother.  Even  in  his  childhood 

[33] 


that  is  conspicuous.  You  remember  in  his  memoirs,  when,  as  a 
school-boy,  he  had  to  write  a  composition  on  the  Battle  of  Leip 
zig,  how  he  expressed  his  indignation  at  the  political  situation, 
although  he  knew  that  he  would  thereby  incur  the  serious  dis 
pleasure  of  his  teachers.  As  the  boy,  so  the  man.  Although  he 
had  eagerly  assisted  in  the  election  of  Grant,  he  did  not  hesitate 
a  moment  to  oppose  with  all  his  might  those  measures  of  the 
administration  which  he  believed  would  be  injurious  to  the 
American  people.  And  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  instance 
of  this  unselfish  courage  is,  when  he  advocated  with  unceasing 
energy  the  re-establishment  of  the  suffrage  in  the  South,  although 
he  clearly  saw  that  he  was  thereby  helping  to  create  a  democratic 
majority  in  Missouri  and  that  he  would  in  consequence  lose  his 
seat  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

This  same  trait  of  chivalry  is  found  everywhere:  a  vigorous 
fight  for  what  he  regarded  as  just  and  good,  a  fight  with  the 
splendid  ardor  of  his  enthusiastic  spirit,  with  all  the  captivating 
force  of  his  remarkable  personality.  As  a  result,  many  misappre 
hensions  and  enmities  were  unavoidable,  and  it  was  as  a  poor 
man  that  there  died  the  ablest  and  most  influential  of  all  those  of 
foreign  birth  and  foreign  education  who  have  made  their  home 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 

But  when  we  admire  in  Schurz  the  incarnation  of  what  we  call 
German  idealism  we  regard  not  only  the  moral  impulse  which 
prompted  him  to  decide  all  public  questions  without  reference  to 
his  personal  interests,  but  also  the  intellectual  faculty  of  looking 
at  all  problems  of  practical  life  from  the  loftiest  points  of  view. 
This  Carl  Schurz  did  in  a  most  unusual  manner.  He  believed, 
as  he  often  emphasized,  in  the  logic  of  things,  in  an  over-ruling 
fatality,  which  stands  above  the  power  of  majorities  and  of 
governments.  "It  is  the  close  connection  between  cause  and 
effect,  between  principle  and  fact,"  he  explained — "a  con 
nection  which  cannot  be  severed  and  a  clear  knowledge  of  which 
is  the  only  safe  foundation  of  political  wisdom."  He  was  con 
vinced  that  "what  is  nonsense  in  theory,  will  never  make  sense 
in  practice."  But  from  this  he  did  not  conclude  that  men  could 
not  intervene.  On  the  contrary,  he  considered  it  the  duty  of 

[34] 


every  upright  man  to  lend  himself  with  all  his  force  to  what  he 
believed  to  be  just  and  right.  To  the  question,  What  is  meant 
by  the  spirit  of  the  age?  he  answered:  "It  is  action,  action, 
and  action  again."  Action,  spirited  action  in  behalf  of  the 
general  welfare,  action  for  the  benefit  not  only  of  the  American 
people,  but  of  all  mankind,  was  the  text  of  his  long,  eventful, 
and  strenuous  life.  Schurz  never  tired  of  battling  for  his  con 
victions,  against  what  he  regarded  as  a  hindrance  to  progress. 
Thus  he  became  at  an  early  age  a  revolutionist,  struggling  for 
the  removal  of  political  obstacles  which,  once  accomplished, 
would  open  for  the  people,  as  he  himself  expressed  it,  new  fields 
of  inquiry,  knowledge,  and  improvement,  as  a  foundation  on  which 
to  erect  a  solid  structure  of  a  broader  and  higher  development. 
A  fighter  also  he  remained  in  this  country,  whose  soil  appeared 
to  him  so  ideal  a  field  for  developing  in  absolute  freedom  all  that 
is  noble,  progressive,  and  just  in  human  nature. 

The  characteristic  peculiarity  of  Carl  Schurz  consists  in  the 
great  variety  of  objects  for  which  he  was  struggling  and  the  great 
diversity  of  weapons  which  he  handled  so  skilfully.  Thus  did 
he  fight  for  political  freedom,  for  a  constitutional  government  in 
Germany,  with  the  most  daring  revolutionary  methods;  thus  he 
fought,  still  far  more  successfully,  in  this  country,  in  his  capacity 
as  general,  diplomat,  and  politician,  for  his  high  ideals  of  democ 
racy,  and  especially  for  the  freedom  of  the  negro ;  thus  he  fought 
as  your  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  ever  since  that  time  for 
Civil  Service  Reform  and  the  merit  system ;  thus  he  fought  for 
the  protection  of  the  Indian,  whom  he  so  ardently  desired  to  lift 
to  the  level  of  American  citizenship,  and  for  the  preservation  of 
the  forests,  which  he  loved  with  all  the  sentiment  of  his  German 
soul.  Wherever  dangers  seemed  to  arise  in  the  marvelously 
rapid  development  of  American  life,  he  came  boldly  before  the 
public  to  warn  and  to  admonish,  even  in  the  face  of  an  over 
whelming  opposition,  not  only  of  the  people,  but  also  of  his 
friends.  And  he  was  always  listened  to.  Although  in  official 
position  but  a  few  years,  and  never  in  constant  connection  with 
either  of  the  large  parties,  he  was  for  half  a  century  a  powerful 
factor  in  the  life  of  the  American  nation,  untiringly  and  success- 

[35] 


fully  helping  to  strengthen  the  ethical  forces  in  the  great  pro 
cess  of  shaping  public  opinion.  That  was  his  unique  position  in 
the  history  of  this  country. 

Let  us  consider  once  more  what  an  extraordinary  attraction, 
what  irresistible  influence  upon  the  opinions  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen  has  been  exercised  by  this  man  throughout  his  life. 
Historical  proofs  are  not  lacking.  When  he  delivered  his 
maiden  speech,  as  a  student  in  Bonn,  the  rector  of  the  Uni 
versity  asked  him  his  age.  "Nineteen  years,"  was  the  reply. 
"A  pity,"  said  the  rector,  "then  you  are  too  young  to  be 
elected  to  our  new  parliament."  The  same  impression  was 
Spielhagen's,  our  well-known  novelist,  who  studied  with  Schurz 
at  Bonn,  and  who  wrote  in  his  memoirs:  "  Schurz  was  the  great 
est  oratorical  genius  I  have  ever  met." 

An  especially  interesting  illustration  of  his  great  captivating 
influence  was  once  told  to  me  by  the  curator  of  my  university, 
Dr.  von  Rottenburg.  It  appears  that  Dr.  von  Rottenburg,  when 
private  secretary  to  Bismarck,  was  ordered,  when  a  visitor  re 
mained  too  long,  to  send  to  the  Chancellor  a  red  portfolio  indi 
cating  some  urgent  business,  and,  if  this  proved  ineffectual,  to 
repeat  it,  and,  if  still  ineffectual,  to  announce  the  arrival  of  a 
special  messenger  from  the  Emperor.  Schurz  once  paid  a  visit 
to  Bismarck,  and  the  red  portfolio  was,  in  accordance  with  the 
custom,  sent  in  the  first  time,  and  after  fifteen  minutes  the  second 
time,  but  the  official  upon  returning  said  to  Rottenburg:  "  Don't 
trouble  yourself  any  more,  even  the  direct  messenger  from  the 
Emperor  will  have  no  effect,  the  Chancellor  has  just  ordered 
hock  and  cigars  and  the  two  gentlemen  are  enjoying  themselves 
immensely." 

Nor  is  this  personal  influence  of  Carl  Schurz  apt  to  cease. 
As  a  model  of  self-denying  idealism  he  will  not  only  continue 
to  live  in  the  hearts  of  the  great  number  of  his  friends  and  of 
the  best  cf  his  American  fellow-countrymen  but  in  Germany 
also  with  the  conflicting  interests  created  by  the  astounding 
development  of  its  industrial  life,  a  man  of  Carl  Schurz's 
type  will  become  of  more  and  more  importance.  For  in  the 
midst  of  the  increasing  conflicts  of  economic  interests,  solutions 

[36] 


in  harmony  with  the  general  welfare  can  be  found  and  enforced, 
not  by  routine  politicians,  but  only  by  philosophical  and  wholly 
sincere  men  who  are  convinced  that  ultimately  great  ideas  and 
not  petty  personal  interests  must  govern  the  destinies  of  nations. 
And  that  is  true  of  the  political  conflicts,  not  only  within  a  nation 
but  also  between  nations.  Only  broadminded  and  farsighted 
idealism  can  satisfactorily  solve  these  important  problems.  And 
so  we  Germans  shall  cultivate  the  memory  of  the  great  man 
whom  we  mourn  to-night  as  eagerly  and  as  gratefully  in  our 
country  as  you  will  in  yours.  Thus  Carl  Schurz,  even  after  his 
death,  is  destined  to  remain  a  mighty  personal  factor  in  shaping 
public  opinion,  in  both  of  the  countries  to  which  his  noble  soul 
was  patriotically  devoted, — even  after  his  death  a  powerful  con 
necting  link  between  the  two  great  peoples  that  ioin  in  commem 
orating  him  to-night. 


THE  CHAIRMAN: 

You  all  know  what  a  friend  Carl  Schurz  was  to  the  Indian  and 
the  colored  man,  how  devoted  he  was  to  Hampton  and  Tuskegee; 
and  this  memorial  meeting  would  not  be  complete  without  the 
presence  of  Dr.  Booker  T.  Washington,  the  President  of  the 
Tuskegee  Institute  and  leader  of  his  race,  whom  I  have  now  the 
honor  to  present  to  you: 


[37] 


ADDRESS  OF 
DR.  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON 

THE  details  of  the  life  and  deeds  of  the  late  Honorable 
Carl  Schurz  are  so  well  known  as  to  call  for  no  recital 
here.  The  most  and  least  that  can  be  done  at  this 
time  is  to  emphasize  the  lessons  to  be  gleaned  from  his  life 
and  call  attention  to  the  service  rendered  by  him  to  the  Indian 
and  Negro  races.  My  first  acquaintance  with  Carl  Schurz 
was  gained  when  I  was  a  student  at  the  Hampton  Institute 
in  Virginia.  He  came  to  Hampton  when  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  under  President  Hayes,  to  inspect  the  work  of  General 
Armstrong  in  the  education  of  the  Indians  and  to  note  the  pro 
gress  of  the  Negro  students.  During  that  visit  his  striking  per 
sonality,  which  combined  deep  moral  earnestness  with  strength 
of  intellect,  left  in  my  mind  an  impression  which  has  always 
remained  with  me,  and  which  was  deepened  as  I  came  to  know 
Mr.  Schurz  better  in  later  years.  The  impression  made  upon  a 
poor  student  of  another  race — not  long  out  of  slavery — by  the 
words  and  presence  of  this  great  soul,  is  something  which  I 
cannot  easily  describe.  As  he  spoke  to  the  Negro  and  Indian 
students  on  the  day  of  his  visit  to  Hampton,  there  was  a  note 
of  deep  sincerity  and  sympathy,  which,  with  his  frankness  and 
insight  into  the  real  condition  and  needs  of  the  two  races, 
made  us  at  once  feel  that  a  great  and  extraordinary  man  was 
speaking  to  us.  He  had  a  heart  overflowing  with  sympathy  for 
the  two  most  unfavored  races  in  America,  because  he  himself  had 
known  what  it  meant  to  be  oppressed  and  to  struggle  towards 
freedom  against  great  odds.  It  is  easier,  however,  from  many 
points  of  view,  to  sympathize  with  a  people  or  a  race  that  has 
had  an  unfortunate  start  in  life  than  it  is  to  be  frank  and  at  the 
same  time  just — to  say  the  word  and  do  the  thing  which 
will  permanently  help,  regardless  for  the  moment  of  whether 

[38] 


words  or  acts  please  or  displease.  As  Mr.  Schurz  stood  before 
the  Hampton  students,  it  was  plain  that  he  was  a  man  who 
had  been  able  to  lift  himself  out  of  the  poisoned  atmosphere  of 
racial  as  well  as  sectional  prejudice.  It  was  easy  to  see  that 
here  was  a  man  who  wanted  to  see  absolute  justice  done  to  the 
Indian,  the  Negro,  and  to  the  Southern  white  man. 

At  the  time  when  Mr.  Schurz  entered  President  Hayes's  cab 
inet,  it  was  a  popular  doctrine  that  "the  only  good  Indian  was 
the  dead  Indian."  The  belief  had  gained  pretty  general  accept 
ance  that  the  Indian  was  incapable  of  receiving  a  higher  civili 
zation.  More  than  that,  the  Indian  was  being  plundered  of  his 
lands,  his  rations,  and  was  being  used  as  the  tool  in  a  large 
degree  to  further  the  ends  of  unscrupulous  schemers.  It  was 
easier  to  shoot  an  Indian  than  to  civilize  him.  It  has  been  easier 
to  fight  for  freedom  than  work  for  the  freedman.  Easier  to  kick 
or  down  him  than  to  lift  him  up.  It  was  a  period  also  when  the 
Negro  race  was  being  plundered  and  deceived  in  reference  to  its 
vote.  Not  only  this,  when  Mr.  Schurz  entered  the  Hayes  cabi 
net,  the  Negro  was  being  in  a  large  degree  used  as  the  tool  of 
demagogues,  and  at  the  same  time  many  influences  were  at  work 
to  alienate  the  black  and  white  races  at  the  South,  regardless  of 
the  permanent  effect  on  either.  Against  all  this  Mr.  Schurz 
threw  the  weight  of  his  great  name  and  forceful  personality. 
Few  men  in  private  or  public  life  did  more  than  he  to  clear  the 
atmosphere  and  put  all  sections  of  our  country  sanely  and  unself 
ishly  at  work  for  the  highest  welfare  of  the  black  and  red  races. 

Mr.  Schurz  was  among  the  first  to  see  that  if  the  Indian  was 
to  be  permanently  helped,  he  must  be  taught  to  become  an  inde 
pendent  and  willing  producer,  rather  than  an  irresponsible  recip 
ient  of  the  bounty  of  the  general  government.  Hence,  he  was 
among  the  first  to  encourage  agricultural  and  other  forms  of  in 
dustrial  education  for  the  Indians.  He  was  among  the  first,  both 
in  his  official  capacity  and  as  a  private  citizen,  to  aid  General 
Armstrong  at  Hampton  in  his  first  attempt  to  give  industrial 
training  to  the  Indian  in  systematic  way  and  on  a  large  scale.  I 
have  said  that  he  saw  clearly  into  the  needs  and  conditions  of 
my  race  and  its  relations  to  the  white  race.  Time  permits 

[39] 


only  three  illustrations.  One  is  found  in  his  report  to  President 
Johnson  in  1865.  A  second  is  an  article  printed  in  McClure's 
Magazine  in  1903,  under  the  title,  "Can  the  South  Solve  the 
Race  Problem?"  A  third  instance  of  the  sanity  of  his  views  was 
given  some  of  us  when  a  conference  of  the  leaders  of  the  Negro 
race  was,  a  few  months  before  his  death,  held  in  this  building, 
to  which  our  good  friend,  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie,  kindly  brought 
him.  None  will  forget  how,  for  nearly  an  hour,  he  lifted  us,  as 
it  were,  into  a  new  world,  while  there  came  from  his  lips  such 
words  of  advice,  caution,  and  encouragement  as  only  he  could 
speak. 

But  he  has  passed  from  earth.  My  race,  the  Indian  race, 
American  life  as  a  whole  are  the  poorer.  There  never  was  a 
time  when  such  men  were  more  needed  than  at  present.  My 
own  belief  is  that  one  such  character  encourages  and  makes 
possible  in  time  many  other  characters  of  like  strength  and 
helpfulness.  I  do  not  despair.  One  great  life  makes  possible 
many  great  lives.  We  need  at  present,  when  the  question  of 
races  is  occupying  the  attention  of  the  world  as  has  seldom  been 
done,  as  never  before,  it  seems  to  me,  men  of  clear,  calm  view, 
and  with  the  courage  of  their  convictions.  I  am  not  discour 
aged  as  to  present  conditions,  nor  as  to  the  future.  It  is 
good  to  be  permitted  to  live  in  an  age  when  great,  serious, 
and  perplexing  problems  are  to  be  solved.  It  is  good  to 
live  in  an  age  when  unfortunate  and  backward  races  are  to 
be  helped,  when  great  and  fundamental  questions  are  to  be 
met  and  solved.  For  my  part,  I  would  find  no  interest  in 
living  in  an  age  where  there  were  no  weak  member  of  the 
human  family  to  be  helped,  no  wrongs  to  be  righted.  Men 
grow  strong  in  proportion  as  they  reach  down  to  help  others  up. 
The  farther  down  they  reach  in  the  assisting  and  encouraging  of 
backward  and  unpopular  races,  the  greater  strength  do  they 
gather.  All  this  is  borne  out  in  the  character  of  the  hero  of  this 
evening.  Without  oppression,  without  struggle,  without  the 
effort  to  grapple  with  great  questions,  such  a  great  character 
could  not  have  been  produced.  It  required  the  white  heat  of 
trouble  to  forge  such  a  man. 

[40] 


Because  Carl  Schurz  lived,  the  Germans  in  America  are 
stronger  and  greater.  Because  he  lived,  my  race  is  the  richer, 
more  confident  and  encouraged.  The  Indian  race  and  my  race 
are  proud  that  they  had  the  privilege  of  claiming  as  their  friend 
so  great  a  man  as  Carl  Schurz.  The  great  are  never  ashamed  to 
assist  the  unfortunate  or  the  unfavored.  The  usefulness  of  a 
great  man  can  no  more  be  limited  by  race  or  color  than  by 
national  boundaries.  Because  of  the  friendship  of  such  a  soul, 
every  Negro  can  be  the  more  proud  of  his  race.  For  myself,  I 
was  never  more  proud  of  being  a  Negro  than  I  am  today.  If  I 
had  the  privilege  of  re-entering  the  world,  and  the  Great  Spirit 
should  ask  me  to  choose  the  color  and  the  race  with  which  to 
clothe  my  spirit  and  my  purposes,  I  would  answer,  ''Make  me 
an  American  Negro." 

Mr.  Schurz  never  sought  the  popular  side  of  any  question, 
nor  did  he  seek  the  popular  race.  One  word  embodied  his  whole 
philosophy  of  life — that  word  was  Duty. 

Because  he  lived,  we  shall  live  better,  more  nobly.  His 
spirit  is  still  moving  among  us,  and  will  continue  to  strengthen, 
to  guide,  and  to  encourage  us  now  and  evermore. 


A  the  conclusion  of  the  meeting,  the  Chairman  announced 
the    purpose  of   the   Memorial    Committee    to  provide, 
through  popular  subscriptions,  for  an  appropriate  per 
manent  memorial  to  Mr.  Schurz.     From  the  funds  secured  the 
Committee  will  erect  a  monument  in  bronze — either  a  statue  or 
otherwise,  as  may  be  determined  when  the  artistic  considerations 
have  been  weighed — and  will  provide,  in  such  degree  as  the  sub 
scriptions  permit,  for  the  advancement,  in  Mr.  Schurz's  name,  of 
some  of  the  public  work  to  which  his  life  was  given. 

[41] 


CARL   SCHURZ    MEMORIAL 
NEW   YORK   COMMITTEE 

JOSEPH  H.  CHOATE,  Chairman 

GUSTAV  H.  SCHWAB,  First  Vice-Chairman 

GEORGE    MCANENY,   Second  Vice-Chairman 

ISAAC  N.  SELIGMAN,  Treasurer 
WILLIAM  R.   CORWINE,  Secretary 


EDWARD  D.  ADAMS 
FELIX  ADLER 
HENRY  MILLS  ALDEN 
A.   ARNS 

EMANUEL  BARUCH 
JOHN  BIGELOW 
KARL  BITTER 
EMIL  L.  BOAS 
FRANZ  BOAS 
UDO  BRACHVOGEL 
ARTHUR  VON  BRIESEN 
KARL  BUENZ 
WILLIAM  LANMAN  BULL 
E.  L.  BURLINGAME 
CHARLES  C.  BURLINGHAM 
SILAS  W.  BURT 
NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 
ANDREW  CARNEGIE 
WILLIAM  H.  CARPENTER 
EDWARD  GARY 
LEANDER  T.  CHAMBERLAIN 
JOSEPH  H.  CHOATE 
HUBERT  CILLIS 


SAMUEL  L.  CLEMENS 
GROVER  CLEVELAND 
CHARLES  A.   COFFIN 
CHARLES  COLLINS 
HEINRICH  CONRIED 
ALFORD  W.  COOLEY 
WILLIAM  R.  CORWINE 
JOHN  D.  CRIMMINS 
EDWARD  CURTIS 
R.  FULTON  CUTTING 
FRANK  DAMROSCH 
HORACE  E.  DEMING 
WILLIAM  DEMUTH 
RICHARD  H.   DERBY 
A.  VON  DUERING 
GEORGE   EHRET 
CHARLES  S.  FAIRCHILD 
AUSTEN  G.  Fox 
A.  S.  FRISSELL 
RICHARD  WATSON  GILDER 
ELLIOT  H.  GOODWIN 
SAMUEL  GREENBAUM 
FRANCIS  BURTON  HARRISON 


[43] 


GEORGE  HARVEY 

THEODORE  HENNINGER 

HENRY  HENTZ 

HENRY  HOLT 

WILLIAM  B.  HORNBLOWER 

WILLIAM  D.   HOWELLS 

ARCHER  M.  HUNTINGTON 

A.  JACOBI 

D.  WILLIS  JAMES 

WILLIAM  TRAVERS  JEROME 

FRANCIS  P.  KINNICUTT 

HERMANN   KNAPP 

ANTONIO  KNAUTH 

HANS  KUDLICH 

ERNST  LEMCKE 

GUSTAV    LlNDENTHAL 

JOHN  T.  LOCKMAN 
JAMES  LOEB 
SETH  Low 
GEORGE  MCANENY 

S.    S.    McCLURE 

ST.  CLAIR  MCKELWAY 
HAMILTON  MABIE 
CHARLES  R.  MILLER 
JACOB  F.  MILLER 
ROBERT   SHAW  MINTURN 
J.  PIERPONT  MORGAN 
LEVI  P.  MORTON 
LUDWIG  NISSEN 
ROBERT  C.  OGDEN 
ALEXANDER  E.  ORR 
WALTER  H.  PAGE 
ALBRECHT  PAGENSTECHER 
ALTON  B.  PARKER 
JOHN  E.  PARSONS 
GEORGE  FOSTER  PEABODY 


HENRY  PHIPPS 
HENRY  C.  POTTER 
JOSEPH  PULITZER 
GEORGE  HAVEN  PUTNAM 
HERMAN  RIDDER 
CARL  SCHEFER 
WILLIAM  JAY  SCHIEFFELIN 
CHARLES  A.  SCHIEREN 
JACOB  H.  SCHIFF 
WILLIAM  SCHRAMM 
ARTHUR  SCHULER 
GUSTAV  H.  SCHWAB 
ISAAC  N.   SELIGMAN 
ALBERT  SHAW 
EDWARD  W.  SHELDON 
EDWARD  M.   SHEPARD 
GEORGE  VON   SKAL 
WILLIAM  M.  SLOANE 
CHARLES  STEWART  SMITH 
JAMES  SPEYER 
JULIUS  STAHEL 
EDMUND  C.  STEDMAN 
WILLIAM  R.  STEWART 
ANSON   PHELPS  STOKES 
ISIDOR  STRAUS 
OSCAR  S.  STRAUS 
SPENCER  TRASK 
OSWALD  GARRISONVILLARD 
PAUL  M.  WARBURG 
MAX  A.   WESENDONCK 
EVERETT  P.  WHEELER 
ALFRED  T.  WHITE 
HORACE  WHITE 
ALFRED  A.  WHITMAN 
STEWART  L.  WOODFORD 
AUGUST  ZINSSER 


[44] 


IRVING    PRESS 

-121   EAST  THIRTY-FIRST  ST. 
NEW  YORK 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
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2Apf'60JC 


REC'D  LD 


69-0 


MAY  2  3 1969 1* 


LD21-100m-7,'83 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


